The use of inbound links is vital to search engine success and the quality and thematic unity of the links makes all the difference. Ever since Google started to consider link popularity in its search algorithm, it has become one of the most important aspects of SEO. Websites can be optimized for the relevant keywords and be made more search-engine friendly, but without a link building strategy, search engine visibility is difficult to achieve.

To quote Google, “Google’s …. search technology works by first identifying the link structure of the entire web, then ranking individual pages based on the number and importance of pages linked to them.” Note that the popularity and relevance of the inbound links are more critical than their number. All major search engines place some emphasis on link popularity in their ranking algorithms and they place emphasis on two main types of links:

• Quality sites that use the same content/keywords as yours.
• Links from major directories and industry-specific portals.